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Unidentified assailants stormed a Sikh temple in Kabul on Saturday morning. Witnesses instructed the media they heard loud blasts and the sound of gunfire within the space.
Movies posted on social media present plumes of thick smoke rising over the world the place the temple is reportedly situated. In accordance with media stories, the temple complicated caught fireplace throughout the assault, which reportedly concerned a shootout between the assailants and temple guards.
An area temple official, Gornam Singh, instructed journalists that dozens of individuals have been inside when the assault occurred. “There have been round 30 individuals contained in the temple. We don’t know what number of of them are alive or what number of lifeless. The Taliban should not permitting us to go inside, we don’t know what to do,” he mentioned, as cited by Reuters.
A Taliban spokesman for inside affairs mentioned the attackers tried to drive a car laden with explosives into the temple constructing, however it went off earlier than reaching its goal. The Taliban is now securing the location, he added. At the least two individuals have been injured within the incident, in line with the Taliban.
India World Discussion board President Puneet Singh Chandhoke instructed The Hindu that not less than two individuals have been killed within the assault, and the destiny of a number of others stays unknown. Some individuals have been taken to the hospital, he added. In accordance with Indian media, a safety guard and an aged man died within the assault.Nobody has claimed accountability for the assault to date and it’s unclear who’s behind it. The Taliban has not named any suspects. Indian media has claimed that Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS) might be accountable.
The predominantly Muslim nation had a small Sikh neighborhood of a number of hundred earlier than the Taliban takeover final yr. Since that point, some Sikhs have left the nation, however the Kabul temple has remained the middle of the area people of 150, in line with The Hindu.
The India World Discussion board has requested the Indian authorities situation visas for the remaining Sikhs to assist them depart Afghanistan, Chandhoke mentioned. New Delhi evacuated tons of of Sikhs on particular flights final yr, in line with Indian media.
The Kabul temple additionally got here underneath assault in March 2020, when 25 individuals died in an assault that was blamed on IS.
Following the withdrawal of US-led forces final August, Afghanistan has witnessed a number of main assaults on mosques and hospitals, amongst different websites. In November 2021, a high-ranking Taliban commander was killed in an assault on Kabul’s army hospital.
The US and UN have warned that Islamic State and Al-Qaeda have grown in energy because the Taliban regained management of the nation.
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